[TUHS] ratfor vibe

[arnold at skeeve.com]

Ralph Corderoy <ralph at inputplus.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi Arnold,
>
> > In ~ 1981, Kernighan and Plauger rewrote the tools in Pascal and redid
> > the book to go with it. This is
> > https://www.amazon.com/Software-Tools-Pascal-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0201103427/
> > which I also recommend getting a copy of.
>
> I agree the original Software Tools is a must read, but having done so,
> why would I suffer working through the hurdles put in place by Pascal
> compared to Ratfor?  I never bothered so your recommendation makes me
> wonder what I missed.  I did read Kernighan's ‘not my favourite’
> and took from that I wouldn't enjoy the Pascal book given I'd read
> the original.
>
> -- 
> Cheers, Ralph.

As others mentioned, recursion and real data structures make code
easier to read. They also refined the text some.

But in general, I think the principle of "ANYTHING written by Brian
Kernighan is worth reading, at least once" applies, even in this case.

FWIW, Brian has told me more than once that he wishes they'd done "Software
Tools In C" instead of in Pascal, and that the Pascal book was a failure
to read the market correctly.

Long ago, I once dreamed that I found "Software Tools In C" in a bookstore;
the cover had green lettering instead of the red and blue used in the
real books. I was sorta disappointed when I woke up... :-)

HTH,

Arnold